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9. The more deeply the Committee studied the University's past and the present situation, however, the more impressed it became with the need and opportunity for a University in Hong Kong which could serve the "the maintenance of purpose originally envisaged for it by Lord Lugard good understanding with the neighbouring country of China. During the war in February 1945 the Colonial Office expressed to the Far Eastern Committee of the War Cabinet its conviction that "from the chaos of war an opportunity has arisen which can be used to establish the University finally on the lines intended by its founder and prove it to be an important practical contribution to anglo-Chinese goodwill and understanding in the future" and the Foreign Office, at the same time, recorded its opinion "that the University is a valuable instrument for propagating British ideals and spreading British influence in China, and that it should be given all the support and assistance possible in increasing its usefulness in this respect". In August 1945, the chief representative in China of the British Council, commenting on the function which the University could perform in cementing close cultural relations and friendship with China, stated that "whatever the future extension of the activities of the British Council in China, it is probably true to say that Hong Kong University is, potentially, the largest single 'cultural' contribution to Chinese reconstruction which Great Britain is capable of contributing. The Committee endorses these opinions, the point of which has been increased by the shape of development. since the end of hostilities.
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10. A university, by the freedom of its discussions, by the dis- interested character of its pursuit of knowledge, by the capacious width of its interests, is a peculiarly fitting instrument to represent the cultural heritage and activities of Great Britain. As a community of students devoted to the advancement of learning it is a living thing, in the growth and adaptation of which all associated with it can share. The profound and permanent effect it has on its members, whether teachers or taught, is demonstrated in all countries by the loyalties of graduates, most of whom experience its influence during the formative years of their maturity. depth and intimacy of understanding, though not necessarily agreement, among those of differing classes, creeds and races that comes from living together for a period of years within the common purpose of learning for its own sake, in all the informality of debate and mutual education which constitutes the life of a university, is greater than can be provided by almost any other means, such as travel or the diffusion of literature. As an instrument for "the maintenance of good understanding" between the British and Chinese peoples, a university has immense potentiality.
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Equally with the function of making British standards and scholarship accessible to China, a university in Hong Kong could contribute to the understanding of China by Great Britain. The need for such under- standing requires no emphasis; the appropriateness of a university, situated at the chief point of direct contact between the two cultures, as a vehicle for such mutual interpretation and study also requires no elaborate explanation. It is continuous, adaptable, unofficial; if it creates a condition of mutual confidence and respect, it can provide opportunities for truly informed appreciations of Chinese developments in all spheres.
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As an institution for "the maintenance of good understanding a university does not prejudice or conflict with other forms of relationship between the two countries
In most governmental, commercial, cultural. instances, as for example the work of the British Council, it reinforces but them The Committee was obviously not competent to suggest or to evaluate other othethods of contributing to "the maintenance of good understanding". In so far as it could consider this question, it judged that the establish- ment of a university at Hong Kong was the most effective The creation of a new university under British inspiration within China itself was politically impossible. The institution of special chairs and departments within existing Chinese universities would not provide the same flexibility and balanced representation as a full university. Exchange professorships,
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